Desert Wars
by tiffywiffyfluffykitty
Summary: Fiore is a wasteland with water the most precious element in the land. Guilds fight for control of freshwater wells and within it all, an unlikely romance brews between two people from different guilds. NaLu most of all, but some Jerza, RoWen, GaLe, and LokexAries and hints of Gruvia.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Lucy rolled off the bed groaning. She hated this dry feeling in her mouth that greeted her every morning, but she'd been getting used to this ever since she was born. Stumbling out of her tent, she was greeted with a dry wind and the same barren sky and blazing sun she saw every day.

Once again there was no rain and no hint of cloud at all.

Loke was striding towards her, pulling on his flannel shirt which he left open over his white t-shirt. "Morning, he greeted."

"How can you tell?" Lucy asked, gesturing at the sky.

"I'm just guessing. It looks like this every single day of the year except for night. Not even the temperature changes."

"I know," Lucy sighed. "It makes me think of when Mom used to talk about her childhood."

Loke nodded in understanding. "Those stories of grass and flowers and all the fresh water we could ever want."

Lucy grimaced at the mention of water. "Is everything alright at the well? We had a brawl yesterday during water gathering."

"We decided that from now on, we will deliver the water to the people. A day ago, someone was sneaking extra water out of the well. Aries found out when she was treating the dehydrated children."

"Good. Did you bring everybody's water already?"

"We're still delivering. The Jeep should be here soon."

"How many are still sick?" Lucy led the way back to her tent where she began combing her dry dusty hair.

"About half the territory's people are sick and we can't spare anymore water. The well's level has gone down by a total five inches over the last month."

Lucy frowned sharply then resumed brushing before tying up her hair in a loose ponytail. "Take half of my own water provision today and give it to the sickest children. I entrust this with you and Aries."

Loke smiled. "As you wish."

"And tell Taurus and Scorpio to check up on the borders. Phantom Lord and Sabertooth may be cooking up something. I'll be checking up on the Magnolia border in case Fairy Tail and the allied guilds are planning to move on us."

"Paranoid as always," Loke laughed and left.

Lucy pulled off her faded shorts and tank top and changed into loose camouflage cargo pants, leather combat boots she had traded a half cup of water for, and a tight black t-shirt. She coiled her whip onto her belt on her right and belted her knife onto her left. She shoved her alcohol canteen full of water into her left thigh pocket for emergency uses, slung her half-full water canteen over her shoulder as well as her assault rifle. She strapped her thigh holster to her right leg and shoved in her pistol.

The twins Gemi and Mini whistled as she pushed out of her tent. "Wow you're armed to the teeth. Where you going?"

"Magnolia border," Lucy said as she kicked her motorcycle to life.

"You know they're not going to do anything," Gemi said as he sipped his first cup of water for the day.

"You never know," Lucy said darkly and blasted off into the wasteland.

Perhaps a little clarification would be adequate at this moment… About thirty or forty years ago, a drought had overtaken Fiore and never subsided, killing over 90% of the population. The once beautiful country turned into a wasteland with an empty sky that never rained with a boiling hot sun and dry baked earth with no vegetation at all. What water there was is found in freshwater wells that were guarded ferociously.

Groups of people called guilds fight for control of the wells; the largest of the wells are in Magnolia territory by what was once Magnolia city and controlled by the guild Fairy Tail, which made an alliance with Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Crime Sorcière. The second largest well is found in Heartfilia territory and controlled by the Celestial Zodiacs, the guild led by Lucy Heartfilia. The dark guild Sabertooth controls the water well in the center of Fiore and the well in the north of Fiore is controlled by Phantom Lord. The other two dark guilds Oración Seis and Grimoire Heart control the territories without freshwater wells and formed alliances with Phantom Lord for the freshwater well in the north.

Water is the most precious element in Fiore at the moment. Each person is assigned one gallon per day to drink unless they ask for special permission for more water, in which the request is meticulously examined until they get one or two extra gallons if the request is valid. Water could also be used for trade as long as the traders have already used up half if not all of their water and it is forbidden to secret water and pretend to have no more to bargain for water. Stealing water is one of the most offensive crimes and if anyone breaks the laws, they would be banished from the territory.

Well, the rest you will find out soon. Now back to the story.

At the moment, Lucy was speeding through the desert leaving a cloud of dust behind her and a hot wind blowing into her face. She was tracing along a line of large stones that divided the Heartfilia and Magnolia territories. She gazed out over the Magnolia territory. Twenty miles from where she is now is the Fairy Tail guild headquarters in what was once the city of Magnolia. The area she was looking at here is under the jurisdiction of the Crime Sorcière guild.

Suddenly there was a cloud of dust ahead of her and she slowed and stopped, shutting off the engine. Soon after, a dusty Chevy pickup truck pulled up on the other side of the line and out stepped Jellal Fernandes from the driver's seat. The young man was dressed in a white shirt stained a sandy color from the dust and blue jeans with brown boots.

"Hey," Jellal greeted Lucy, his eyes taking in her weapons.

"Hey," the blond beauty replied cautiously.

"Why are you armed so heavily? It's not like you're going by the Phantom Lord border. They've been hounding after your well for ages."

"I know. How're things on your side?" Lucy took a swig from her water canteen and held it out to Jellal who shook his head and took out his own canteen.

"Sabertooth hasn't been doing anything but we think Oración Seis is going to attack us soon since they've been attacking our water trucks. Makarov has been sending out Natsu, Gray, and Erza a lot to guard the trucks and they've been seriously overworked. We've been giving them two gallons of water a day now but it's not enough."

"Natsu, Gray, and Erza?" Lucy asked. "I've never met Natsu but I met Gray and Erza once when they did border patrol. I met them around here."

"Did you and Erza have a shootout?" Jellal chortled as he blushed lightly at the mention of Erza.

Lucy caught his blush and smiled softly. "Not really. We did become friends though. It was Gray who almost shot me as soon as he saw my guns."

"Yeah, I get why he's so cautious. Even though Fairy Tail and Celestial Zodiacs are light guilds, we're still territorial over water." Jellal sighed and took another sip before capping the canteen.

"Even now?" Lucy said lightly.

"Even now." He stretched. "I gotta deliver the rest of the water. I'll see you again sometime?"

"Sure. Tell Fairy Tail that I said "hi", alright?"

"Course I will." Jellal saluted her with two fingers to his forehead as she started the engine and roared away, making him cough from the ensuing cloud of dust.

* * *

**I thought of this while riding the subway and listening to Radioactive by Imagine Dragons and it just suddenly came to me. Hopefully I can balance my time between this fanfiction and This Is The End since I'm not going to continue Love Conquers All. Review if you like this or not! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The wide dusty road had been used so many times the tire tracks have been etched into the dirt permanently.

Natsu, Erza, and Gray were riding on the bed of a pickup truck, shotguns in their hands. Or, in Natsu's case, a flamethrower.

"I still don't understand why you use a flamethrower all the time," Gray grumbled. "It just adds to the heat." Once again, he'd stripped off his clothes save for his undergarments.

"Gray, your clothes," Erza said, glaring into the desert. A hollowed out shell of a car stood by the road as they raced past and not far from it, dusty pieces of metal, tires, and all sorts of junk were scattered around the flat ground.

"Hell, it's too hot to care." He slumped down against a crate full of gallons of water. "Hey, Gildarts, do you see any hostiles?"

Fairy Tail's second-in-command shook his head. "Nope, nothing. And I still can't believe I'm on water duty," he grumbled.

"We are too," Cana, his daughter, reminded him.

"Yeah, but I would love to put Makarov on water duty for once. This is torturous. I'm getting thirstier by the minute."

Cana groaned. "Please, don't talk about water. It's taking all I have not to dive back there and drink all that water right now."

"Me too." Natsu started staring at the water crates with puppy eyes.

Erza whacked him with one of her swords, thankfully while it was sheathed. "Stop it. We're all as thirsty as you are."

They pulled into one of the town-camps as Natsu began to protest. As soon as they pulled in, the people cheered with ragged voices and began lining up to receive their water for the day.

"How many people live here?" Erza asked the leader of the camp.

"I'd say about thirty people. I'm not sure though," he replied.

"We need an approximate population count before we can distribute the water," Erza informed him. "If you can have everyone return to their tents so I can do a count, I would be very much obliged."

The leader began to protest but stopped short as Erza gave him the evil eye. "Would you like us to drive off with your water right now and not return until tomorrow morning?"

"N-No."

"Then have everyone return to their tents and trailers until we can deliver the right amount of water."

"Y-Yes. As you say." He turned around and called to the eagerly waiting people, who sullenly returned to their tents, casting longing looks back at the water truck.

The team took an hour to deliver the water with Cana and Gildarts standing guard over the rest of the water in the truck until the three of them return and head to the next camp.

"I'm tired," Natsu groaned.

"Natsu… that was only the first delivery. We have ten more," Cana told him.

"At least Wendy gave you those motion sickness patches or you would've keeled over right from the very start," Gildarts chortled.

"We're running out of those patches," Gray said grimly. "And the trading ships from the neighboring countries haven't been coming lately so that just adds to the limited supply."

"It's because we can't afford to replenish their water supplies," Gildarts replied. "And we're running out of money."

"We can't hold out much longer. Some of the camps deeper inland haven't eaten anything but dry rations for days," Cana said.

"Heartfilia territory depends on us for trade. I heard Jellal ran into the leader of the Celestial Zodiacs yesterday," Gildarts commented.

"Lucy Heartfilia, right?" Erza asked. "I remember her. She tried to shoot Gray's head of as soon as he reached for his gun."

Gray groaned. "I still can't believe I lost that fight."

"I wish I was there. I was doing border patrol with Lisanna and Bixslow by the Sabertooth border that day," Natsu said wistfully.

"I'm sure you and Lucy'll get together just fine. Both of you itch to shoot the brains out of someone," Gray snorted.

"I do not! It's only those Sabertooth bastards and those Oración Seis idiots," Natsu protested.

"Right," Gray rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to beat your ass as soon as we get off this truck."

"Challenge accepted."

Erza glared at them. "You will not embarrass us at the next camp or I swear I will personally decapitate you and leave your body out in the desert for the buzzards."

The two young men were shivering with fear by the end of her sentence, feeling cold despite the hundred or so degree heat. "W-W-We won't fight," Natsu squeaked out as Gray clutched the other boy's arm, trying to hide from Erza's stern gaze.

"Good." She turned away and the two of them slumped in relief.

"Was she bluffing?" Cana whispered to Gildarts.

The older man shivered. "I don't know and I don't wanna know."

* * *

**Next chapter will come soon hopefully :3 Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Phantom Lord attacked one of our water trucks and stole all the water," Taurus gasped as he stumbled into Lucy's tent.

She bolted upright, the handful of water level charts forgotten in her hand. "Where?" she snapped.

"North. Somewhere by the cliffs. We were only twenty minutes away from the nearest camp and five more camps haven't received their water supply yet."

"Tell Aquarius and Scorpio to deliver the rest of the water by another route. I'll be going with Capricorn, Virgo, and Loke," Lucy said, strapping her belt to her hips and slinging her shotgun and extra ammo over her shoulder as well as her assault rifle and water canteen. The rest of the essentials are already on her.

"Scorpio is already on it with Pisces. Both of them," he added at Lucy's slightly confused look.

She nodded in understanding and strode out the tent. "Loke! Capricorn! Virgo! Arm up and get ready to roll!" she yelled in the direction of their tents.

Virgo bursts out with a pickaxe and a loaded pistol. Capricorn was armed with his usual artillery of rifles, and Loke came with a shotgun and two high power handheld halogen searchlights, which were his preferred weapon. Aim it at someone in the dead of night then have a partner ambush him while he was blinded and he was going down. Sometimes it wasn't that effective, but Lucy still allowed it, mostly because he's more successful at it than anybody else who tried.

Virgo and Capricorn got in one of the pickup trucks while Loke and Lucy got on their motorcycles. They started the engines and started towards north,

In half an hour, they had reached the spot Taurus described and cocked their guns, alert for any sign of Phantom Lord guild members. There were none and the four of them relaxed slightly.

Lucy got off her bike and checked around for tracks. She found a bunch of tire tracks, several of them leading to and from the direction of Phantom Lord territory and one set leading towards this spot and driving away straight towards the direction of the Celestial Zodiacs' camp.

"Seems like they've gone back," Capricorn said.

"Yeah, but there's something wrong about this. They stole water, but for some reason, it feels like there's a bigger reason for this," Lucy mused, her eyebrows forming into a sharp V.

"Maybe this is just it. I mean, they have their own well, but maybe they just want more," Loke suggested.

"Exactly. _They want more_. And _we_ have more. They aren't strong enough to go against Fairy Tail and the allies, so they're picking on us. I agree with Lucy-sama. This might be a plot to take over their well," Capricorn said. Lucy nodded at him with pride at his logical thinking.

Virgo shifted her pickaxe. "Whatever they're planning, we have to take a precaution from now on. We should go back to warn the others."

"Agreed." Capricorn reached down to help Lucy stand up, which she accepted.

"You three get back to camp. I'll go scout down the entire length of the border," Lucy said.

Loke looked like he was about to protest but Capricorn shook his head at him. "She always did like to do everything herself."

Reluctantly, the three of them headed back towards camp and Lucy turned towards the left, heading along the remainder of the Phantom Lord border until she reached the Sabertooth border, which she ignored and then finally down to the Magnolia border almost to the spot where she met Jellal.

There was no one along the way and as she stared down the Magnolia territory, she noticed that the sun was dipping low over the horizon. Turning, she headed back to camp, ate dinner, and went to sleep.

No one knew that that night, their lives would change unexpectedly.

* * *

**This chapter is a little rushed, but I promise the next chapter will be much much better. Please review! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next morning, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Juvia, and Jellal were doing border patrol by the Heartfilia border.

"This is boring," Natsu grumbled, scratching the spot where the motion sickness patch stuck to his skin.

"We've been doing this for several months straight," Gray agreed. "I need a break."

Erza, who was sitting shotgun next to Jellal, suddenly squinted and pointed. "What's that?"

Immediately the rest of them tried to identify the object Erza was looking at. It wasn't long before they saw it.

"Juvia thinks it's a body," Juvia gasped.

Jellal squinted before his eyes flew wide open in surprise. "It's Lucy!" He immediately pulled over and nearly tore open the door in his haste to get to the girl.

Natsu dropped everything and hauled himself out of the truck, running after Jellal, passing the other man, and dropping to his knees next to the girl.

Lucy Hearfilia seemed to be in horrible shape. Her clothes are ruined, scratches and bruises and blood covering almost every inch of her. A horribly misshapen arm seemed to be twisted until broken and she was unconscious. Her weapons were scattered around her and there was a rough bandage thrown around her left knee.

Jellal ran up, followed by the rest of them. Juvia scanned the rest of the territory. "Juvia thinks she sees a trail of bodies coming from the same direction."

"Juvia, Gray, go pick up the rest of them and put them in the truck dead or alive. We should bring them back to camp. Jellal, is Lucy alive?" Erza asked.

He checked for her pulse. "Yeah, but she's in critical condition. Considering the distance she's walked in this state, I'm amazed she's alive."

Gray and Juvia came back with the first of the bodies. It was Taurus. "He's still alive. As far as I can tell, the entire Celestial Zodiacs guild is out there in serious condition."

"I'll help," Jellal offered and carefully crossed to the nearest body. Loke with his arm around Aries as if supporting her even when unconscious. He smiled at how obviously in love they were, then frowned with worry. He still haven't gotten up the courage to tell Erza how he felt and he didn't know if she felt the same way about him. What if she liked someone else? Many men have had their eyes on her…

He shook his head. Now is not the time for such thoughts. He carefully picked up Aries and carried her to the back of the truck where Juvia had spread canvas sacks as a sort of blanket to protect from the rough bed of the truck.

"We don't have enough room for all of them," Gray said to Jellal. "They have too many members. The most the truck can fit with all of them lying down is five and Capricorn and Scorpio are pretty big and I don't even want to mention Taurus. He can probably take up the entire back."

Jellal chewed his lip. "We're too far out to get help so some of us are going to have to walk. As for the Celestial Zodiacs, we might have to pile them up in the back."

Gray frowned. "The problem with that plan is that they're all immensely injured. We shouldn't overstrain them."

"What can we do? They have fifteen members! We can't fit them all!"

Gray looked confused. "Fifteen?"

Jellal stared at him then began counting on his fingers. "Lucy, Loke, Aries, Gemi, Mini, both Pisces, Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Sagittarius, Libra, and Cancer."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. "

Jellal facepalmed. "Anyways, they can't all fit—" He was interrupted by the arrival of Levy and Gajeel driving another pickup truck.

"What's going on?" Levy asked, getting out with Gajeel.

"We found the Celestial Zodiacs out here badly injured. We need your help to transport them back to camp," Erza said from where she was carrying Virgo to the back of the pickup truck.

Levy nodded and Gajeel cleared a space between the water crates to fit several of them. Gray and Jellal carried the twins, Pisces, Aquarius, Scorpio, Cancer, and Libra to their truck while their own had Taurus, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Loke, Aries, Virgo, and Lucy in the back while Juvia and Gray rode with Levy and Gajeel and Natsu, Erza, and Jellal rode in the first truck.

They rode carefully, as to not jostle their passengers. Natsu glanced behind him. So that was the legendary Lucy Heartfilia. What had happened as to make them so beaten up?

Nobody would ever know until the Celestial Zodiacs wake up.

* * *

**I know that my chapters aren't very long. I kinda struggle with extending chapters because I have so many ideas and I just want to put them down as fast as I can. At this rate, I might as very well finish by the end of the month. Nah, I'm not that fast. I also have to take into consideration my poor editor who reads so many of my work practically everyday. I'll try to extend chapters though :) **

**Please review! The lack of reviews on my fanfictions are killing me!**

**And read my other fanfictions if you haven't. Thank you~ :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_The night sky was dark with no light. The stars twinkled coldly as a new moon hid in the sky. It was cold, colder than most nights she'd been in and somehow, this gave her a strangely ominous feeling._

_She'd gone to sleep, her eyes shut as she lied on her camp bed. There had been no sound…until her tent tore apart and she found herself in the middle of a horrific battlefield._

* * *

Lucy woke, gasping and coughing at the dryness in her mouth. Her tongue felt thick and heavy and her throat ached. Her arm began to twinge sharply with pain and all in all, she felt like crap. Her head spun and she nearly fell.

"Easy," a voice said and a warm arm supported her, propping her up against something coarse and taut.

She struggled to see in the dim light, her eyes still cloudy. "Who…" she stopped as her voice rasped and broke.

"Here, drink this." The stranger put something to her cracked lips, something wet and warm. Water. She drank eagerly, slopping a little down her chin in her haste. The stranger gave her more and she drank and drank until her throat and mouth felt better. Her eyes cleared and she looked around.

She was in a dim tent with light streaming in from the slightly open tent door and the little chinks coming in through the fabric. In a corner is a camp bed, the one she was sitting on. In another was a small table with a folding stool with several small weapons lying upon it. At the foot of the bed is a crate or two covered by a large piece of sackcloth and by the bed, leaning against the wall of the tent, are two shotguns, a rifle, and about three or four flamethrowers. Who is this person as to keep so much weaponry in their tent?

Sitting next to her on a second folding chair is a young man only a year or two older than her with dark slanted eyes, a youthful tanned face, and, most shockingly, spiky pink hair.

"Who are you?" Lucy whispered, her voice still a little raspy.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail," he said with a large warm grin. "You're Lucy Heartfilia right?"

So she was in Fairy Tail's camp and this was the famous Natsu Dragneel she'd heard about so many times. What was she doing here? "How did I get here?" she asked.

"Erza, Jellal, Icicle Breath, sorry, that's Gray Fullbuster, Juvia, and me found you by Heartfilia territory border with the rest of your guild. You guys were really beaten up." His eyes betrayed his concern.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"About four days. This is the fifth day. Uhh… most of your guild still haven't woken up, but I know there's that one with the pink hair—"

"Aries? Or do you mean Virgo?"

"Yeah, Aries. Uh, that perverted one..."

"Do you mean Taurus?"

"Yeah! And uh…that playboy with the glasses."

"Loke. You know what, take the time to actually learn their names before even mentioning them to me because it's hard to know who you're describing, even though I know them so well."

Natsu looked slightly startled. "Sorry. It's just that Wendy and Levy and Mira and Lisanna have been watching over them so much that it's hard to tell who's who. "

"Who's Wendy and Mira and Lisanna and Levy?" Lucy asked.

"Wendy's our healer like Aries is yours. Levy, Mira, and Lisanna help her out most of the time since she's so young."

"Ah…" They sat in silence, Lucy sipping water out of a tin cup. "I'm sorry, am I taking your water supply?" she asked as a sudden though crossed her mind.

Natsu shook his head. "Nope. Mira already sorted out the water for you guys. This is your gallon for the day."

"Oh." She took another sip and sat up straighter. "I want to see them."

He looked confused. "Who?"

"My guild, duh. I have to see if they're ok."

He now looked reluctant. "I don't think you should. Wendy says that including your arm, you also have several broken ribs and a dislocated kneecap although she managed to push it back. It should still hurt though since it's pretty swollen. She says that you shouldn't move around for a while since you're worse than the others."

"I don't care. I have to check if they're alright. If you're not going to help me then I'm going to drag myself there." She tried to stand, but a bolt of pain shot through her knee and she gasped. Natsu took this opportunity to push her back into bed.

"Don't strain yourself. And besides, they're all the way on the other side of camp. You'll never make it."

She glared. "Don't underestimate me." She tried again and collapsed, almost falling over Natsu's lap as her knee and sides screamed with agony. Dimly, she realized she was dressed in a loose white t-shirt and gray sweatpants cut off at the knee.

Natsu picked her up and put her on the bed. "Alright, I'll carry you there. But after this time, you gotta be a good girl and stay in bed until Wendy gives you the ok, alright?"

She glared mutinously before sighing through her nose. "Fine. Now can I see them?"

Natsu grinned again, a grin she found she rather liked. "Sure. Just put this on alright?" He gave her a gray checked button down shirt which she used as a jacket and he hoisted her up into his arms in a princess lift as soon as she did.

"Hey! What the hell is this?!" she yelled, blushing.

He gave her an inquisitive look. "I said I was going to carry you."

"I know! But not like this!" she wailed.

Natsu shrugged. "I can't carry you over my shoulder and piggyback rides are going to trigger your knee and ribs most likely so this is probably the safest thing to do."

She angrily huffed and looked away, turning red as Natsu kicked open the tent flap and everybody in the vicinity began to stare at the two of them.

A buff looking man with dark orange hair in a black ragged cloaked snickered with a young woman holding a bottle of wine next to them. "That's Gildarts Clive, Fairy Tail's second-in-command and his daughter Cana Alberona," Natsu told Lucy.

A Western looking couple with an adorable little girl walked by. "Alzack and Bisca Connell. They're married and that little girl is Asuka Connell, their daughter."

After a whole lot of stares and giggles, Lucy's face was officially bright scarlet in color when they reached the hospital. A young girl with dark blue pigtails ran out to greet them.

"This is Wendy Marvell," Natsu introduced.

"Hi, Wendy," Lucy said.

"Hi, Lucy-san," the girl said shyly.

"You're Fairy Tail's top healer?" Lucy asked incredulously. She couldn't believe it. This little girl is Fairy Tail's top healer? At this, Wendy seemed to blush.

"A lot of people think so, but I think Porlyusica is a lot better than I am. She's not a part of Fairy Tail though, but she's always close by," Wendy said, fidgeting nervously.

"She saved me from a near-fatal shot at the heart once," Natsu said bluntly. "She's got real talent."

At this, Wendy turned crimson. "It was all Porlyusica…"

"Stop it, Wendy, you downplay yourself too much," a beautiful woman with long white hair chided as she appeared from within the huge tent they used as a hospital.

"This is Mirajane Strauss," Natsu introduced. "We all call her Mira, though."

Lucy saw that Mirajane's eyes were sparkling as she looked at Natsu and her together and got a really bad feeling. "What?" she asked suspiciously.

The girl squealed. "I just think you and Natsu look so cute together!"

Natsu groaned and Lucy glared daggers at Mira. "No. Way. In. Hell," Lucy growled.

Another white-haired girl came out. "This is Lisanna," Mira said. "My little sister."

Lisanna had shorter hair than her sister yet with the same eyes and stature. She was polite, but seemed to show signs of unhappiness and irritation upon seeing Natsu carry Lucy in such an intimate way. Lucy eyed her, although not in a challenging way, more in a calculating gaze, wondering what made her so tense upon seeing her and Natsu.

Finally, Levy came out. She was short, only a head taller than Wendy, with lighter blue hair tied back with an orange bandanna. She seemed bright and curious and Lucy felt an immediate liking towards her.

"How are they?" Lucy asked in a soft voice.

"They're doing much better," Wendy assured. "Loke, Taurus, Aries, Capricorn, and Gemi woke up yesterday but they're resting now."

"I want to see them," she demanded, although not harshly. Wendy led them in and Natsu, carrying Lucy, was followed in by Mira, Lisanna, and Levy.

Lucy frowned with worry as she looked at her friends and family. Many were sleeping peacefully, although Loke and Aries were quietly talking. They stopped and sat straight up as Lucy came in.

"Lucy!" Loke cried out and eagerly hobbled over to the group using his crutches and followed closely by Aries.

"Loke!" She gave him an awkward hug, restricted by Natsu's arms around her.

"I'm sorry!" Aries wailed. Lucy sweatdropped.

"What are you sorry about?" Levy asked, confused.

Aries fidgeted. "I couldn't protect my nakama so… I'm sorry!" she wailed again.

"It's ok," Lucy laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "That attack took us completely by surprise." Although her tone was light, her eyes were furious.

"What happened?" Mira asked Lucy, who turned away.

"I'll tell you when all of my guildmates wake. Their health is my priority at the moment," Lucy said and gave no further comment.

Natsu shifted. "Time for you to go back now."

"How come Lucy's sleeping in your tent?" Loke asked suspiciously.

Lucy's head snapped towards Natsu. "What?! I'm sleeping in _your_ tent?!" she nearly shrieked.

"There's no more room in the hospital and Natsu's the only one willing enough to share his tent," Wendy explained.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy noticed that Lisanna looked slightly furious, a sharp frown on her face.

"Alright," Lucy sighed, finally relenting after a minute of fuming to herself. "I'm getting tired."

Natsu turned around at her words and carried her back into his tent. "Don't try anything you two!" a voice called.

Lucy turned, ready to snap back until Natsu pushed into the tent and set her down on his bed. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." He grinned for the third time that day and dove out, screaming, "I'm going to beat your stupid frosted ass, Underwear Prince!"

Inside the tent, Lucy laughed and listened to the sounds of fighting outside.

* * *

**I'm trying to make my chapters longer so this is my first try at it. How did I do? :)**

**Please review and read my other fanfictions! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Natsu!" the girl howled. "Let me out!"

Natsu sighed and kept on screwing wads of cloth into his ears. This seemed to anger Lucy even further for she put her mouth right by his ear and screamed. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Wendy said no, alright?!" he snapped, pulling his useless earplugs out.

"I don't care! I'm sick of staying here! Let me out!" She wriggled around, but Natsu had tied her to the bed so she wouldn't try to sneak out.

Wendy quietly tiptoed in. "Natsu? Is anything wrong?"

Natsu groaned. "This bi— er, female dog, has been yelling at me all day. Are you sure she still can't go out yet?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BITCH?!"

Wendy clapped her hands over her ears and Natsu clamped his hand over Lucy's mouth.

"Oi! Language, people! There's kids here!" someone roared from outside.

"Fuck you too!" Lucy yelled in a muffled voice.

"Feisty, isn't she?" Gray said to someone. There was a murmur of assent.

"I'll fucking kill you, you son of a bitch!" Lucy bellowed in the direction of Gray's voice. "I'm going to cut off your motherfucking dick!"

There was silence then Loke came in. "Wow, Princess. I haven't seen you in such a bad mood ever since someone knocked over a stack of water bottles and they all burst because no one capped them.

"Please tell me I banished that fucking fool."

"Our sources say he's a pile of dust in Grimoire Heart Territory."

"Good for him." She closed her eyes. "I'm sick and tired of staying in here. I've been bedridden for a full week!"

"Sorry, Lucy-san, but your ribs need a full month to heal and that arm and knee needs time and lots of resting," Wendy said apologetically. She continued to hover by Natsu's side.

Lucy groaned. "I swear, I I have to stay here one more day I'm going to blow this entire camp up using Natsu's flamethrowers," she snarled.

Wendy thought for a moment. "If you give me one more week—" She stopped as Lucy shot her a murderous glare. "Nevermind. Give me one more day and I can set up something for you. I think Gajeel can help me construct a wheelchair."

The other girl grunted. "I guess I can hold out for one more day." Her gaze turned wistful. "I wish I had those books Mom gave me, but I left them behind when we were raided."

"You read books?" Natsu asked, astonished.

"Duh." Lucy rolled her eyes. "Why? Don't you?"

He shook his head. "Levy's the only one who reads on a daily basis. Her tent is packed with books like a freaking library. I can ask her to lend you some."

"Do that. And get these fucking ropes off me."

Natsu rolled his eyes, but unsheathed his knife and quickly sawed through the ropes. Lucy carefully sat up as soon as he did and stretched. "Thanks."

"No problem." He passed her his water bottle and she drank carefully.

"Everybody's up already by now," Loke said. "Makarov is waiting for you to be up and running before calling a meeting of guilds so they can find out what happened."

"Who's going to be there?"

"All of Fairy Tail, representatives of Blue Pegasus, representatives of Lamia Scale, all of Crime Sorcière, and our entire guild, of course."

Lucy sighed. "I should say I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not. No offense, fairies."

"No problem, zodiacs," Natsu said easily.

She snorted as Loke said with an apologetic wave, "Sorry, I gotta go. Aries needs help. I came to check up on you."

"Get out of here before I kick your ass."

"Aren't you cheery," he grumbled as he walked out. Wendy went with him.

A gong sounded and Natsu stood. "It's lunchtime. I'll get you something from the mess hall."

"Why can't I go there myself?" Lucy complained.

"Cause Wendy and Gajeel didn't make that wheelchair yet and because I'm too lazy to carry your fat ass."

"Every single time you give me food, there's only half of what was originally there."

He shrugged. "I was hungry." He ducked out of the tent. "I'll be back soon!"

"And make sure you have everything on there, bitch!" Lucy yelled after him.

* * *

**Sorry for the cursing, but I wanted to try it. Review if it's ok or not :) But it's kind of OOC right...? idk but review anyways and don't hate me! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The meeting of guilds is held in the mess hall, which is one of the largest tents in the Fairy Tail camp.

Lucy lounged in her wheelchair on the right of Makarov and Gildarts with Loke on her right. Behind her sat the rest of her guild. Opposite of her is Crime Sorcière who sat next to the Trimens and Ichiya of Blue Pegasus who sat next to Lyon, Jura, and Sherry of Lamia Scale. Behind those three guilds sat the rest of Fairy Tail.

Makarov pounded the table with his mug and everyone fell into silence. "Let the meeting of guilds begin." He turned to Lucy. "We have here today as our guest, the Celestial Zodiacs led by Lucy Heartfilia of Heartfilia Territory. Fairy Tail, with the approval of Crime Sorcière, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Scale have offered our territory as their temporary home and we have offered our help as allies."

Lucy dipped her head, as appropriate and said demurely, "Celestial Zodiacs accept your offer and we will repay with two week's worth of water for each member of the allied guilds." A murmur of surprise rose up within the ranks of the Celestial Zodiacs, but it was quickly silenced with a look from Lucy.

"We accept your offer," Makarov said.

"As do I," Jellal said.

"Such is the parfum of comradeship!" Ichiya announced in his deep voice.

"Lamia Scale accepts as well." Jura nodded his approval.

Loke leaned in towards Lucy. "Why such a large tribute? Do we even have the means to uphold your offer?" he whispered.

"We need them as our allies," Lucy murmured back. "Without them, we have no way of getting our well back."

"Ah… It's nice to see you show some humility every once in a while."

"Shut up, you jackass."

When they were done whispering, Makarov continued. "Please tell us of your crisis."

Lucy sighed and gulped down some of her beer before beginning. "About… two weeks ago, Phantom Lord had attacked one of our water trucks. We were suspicious, but thought it was nothing more than a raid. That night… that night we were attacked by the entire guild when we were least expecting it. We barely made it out alive." By now she was spitting out her words, too engrossed in her fury and humiliation of defeat. "We had nowhere to go so after we were kicked out, we walked until we couldn't anymore. That's when you found us." She took a deep breath. "I need your help taking back my territory and we need shelter here to rest and recover."

There was silence until someone from Fairy Tail, a man with a pipe in his mouth, called out, "Sure, we would like you here. It's not every day a hot blond chick comes around."

A large blond man with a scar on the right side of his face reached over to silence him, but Lucy reached him first. She shot a rubber bullet at his shoulder and the man yelled with pain. "Don't call me a hot blond chick you fucking prick or I'll kill you and piss on your grave."

"You know Lucy, it's like the longer you spend here, the more your bad temper worsens. Back home you were a perfect angel," Loke laughed.

"I hate fucking perverts and this place is crawling with them. Like those bitches," She indicated the Trimens, who were ogling her breasts.

"No one stares at Lucy's amazing body and gets away with it!" Taurus bellowed at the Trimens.

"And yet you have perverts within your own guild," Ultear said dryly.

"Well, he's family and you guys aren't. As much as I need your help, I still don't trust you guys."

Lyon scoffed. "Then how about you take back your precious well by yourself? If you need us, you gotta trust us."

Lucy nearly threw herself at him, but was restrained by Loke and Capricorn. "Are you trying to start something, asswipe?"

"Fuck off, Lyon," Gray said. "We're trying to help them, not drive them away."

Lyon was about to reply until Makarov thundered, "ENOUGH! I HAVE DECIDED THAT WE WILL HELP THE CELESTIAL ZODIACS AND I WILL TOLERATE NO ARGUING! _EXPECIALLY_ WITHIN MY OWN GUILD!" He glared at the lot of them and they all fell into sullen silence.

Lucy gave the old man a small smile. "Thank you for helping us."

"It's no trouble. Besides, it'll be nice to stretch our legs. This is war and this is what we're meant to do in this era: fight over wells and defend our territories."

Natsu stood and yelled, "Let's go kick their wimpy asses right now!"

"Quiet, Natsu!" Erza snapped. "Master hasn't finished yet."

"Who cares? Let's just beat them up and get this over with!"

This time, the blond man, Laxus, managed to reach his target in time and knocked Natsu over the head. "Listen to the old man, punk."

Natsu grumbled a minute, then resumed sitting. Lucy saw to her surprise that a _blue_ cat jumped onto his lap and started purring as Natsu stroked him. "This is Happy," he said in answer to Lucy's inquiring gaze.

"I see." She turned back to Makarov. "Are all of your resources at our disposal?"

"They are, but you still must follow our water rules."

"Of course." She turned back to the others as Makarov finished the meeting with, "This meeting is adjourned."

* * *

**I should really start working on This Is The End again... I've been neglecting it and I sorta feel bad now so I'm going to put Desert Wars on hold for a little bit. Just enough for me to get one or two chapters into This Is The End before I continue Desert Wars again.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Natsu grumbled as he helped Lucy wheel across the camp. "Why am I always stuck with you?"

"You were the one who offered to let me camp in your tent so that's why you're stuck with me," Lucy said without paying attention. By now, she was mostly used to his constant griping and groaning.

Capricorn passed by carrying several crates and a nod to Lucy and Natsu. The Celestial Zodiacs have adapted well to Fairy Tail and have helped out in many ways. The guys mostly did heavy lifting, border patrol, and water distribution. Aries taught Wendy, Levy, Mira, and Lisanna some new tricks and techniques. The rest of the girls except for Virgo helped around the camp either in cooking or cleaning.

Lisanna came up carrying a basket of clean bandages. "Hey guys." Her dark blue eyes were unfriendly when she looked upon Lucy. "Where are you guys going?"

"We're going to visit Levy," Natsu said cheerily while he gave her a one-armed hug.

"Well, I'm sure Lucy can get there by herself. Scorpio and Virgo swept out all the paths yesterday. The ground should be smooth enough." Her tone was polite enough and her words' meaning subtle, but it was clear that she wanted Lucy away from Natsu.

Natsu obviously didn't get the message. "Aw come on, Lis. I'm fine with helping Luce."

"Luce?" Lucy and Lisanna said at the same time.

"When the hell did you give me a nickname?" Lucy asked furiously.

"I wanted to call you Luce cause you're part of our family now," he said happily.

"Natsu, she's not part of our family. She's from an enemy guild," Lisanna reminded him.

"Aas I recall, we're not enemies at the moment upon the order of your guild master." Lucy scowled at the white-haired girl as she talked.

Lisanna bristled. "We may not be enemies, but that doesn't mean we can't disagree on certain things and at this moment, I have objections against you and Natsu sleeping in the same tent and him being around you so much."

"Lis, what's gotten into you? I don't mind if Luce sleeps in my tent," Natsu said, clearly confused by the tension between the two girls who ignored him.

"You shouldn't be picking a fight with a guild master," Lucy said darkly. "My guild may not be on our own territory, but my words can still hold weight."

"Not as much as mine. I'm a part of Fairy Tail's family and you, you're an outsider and if I don't like something, you can be sure as hell that I will get my way in the end."

"We'll see about that."

"We'll see." The two girls glared at each other until Natsu nervously said, "Um… should be get going, Luce?"

"First, don't call me Luce. Second, yes, I do think we should get going. See you… _Lisanna,_" Lucy said, her emphasis on Lisanna's name said in a mocking tone.

"See you around, _Lucy_," Lisanna said in the same tone.

They left with the tension still between them along with a confused Natsu following Lucy towards Levy's tent.

* * *

**I wanted to do a chapter on the conflict between Lucy and Lisanna and I hope it's good :) Sorry it's so short though.**

**Review~!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Seriously, what's with Lisanna?" Lucy asked, flipping her blond hair out of her face.

Levy looked up from her limp dog-eared paperback. "What do you mean, Lu-chan?"

"I mean she's been acting all bitchy with me whenever Natsu's around and she practically threatened me!" Lucy exclaimed.

The other girl sat back and pushed up her glasses. "I'm not surprised. Natsu and Lisanna are childhood friends and it's common knowledge that she's had a crush on him for a while now. She probably sees you as a potential threat."

Lucy snorted. "That is just so fucked up. If she wants me to stay away from Natsu, I'm cool with that. I don't even like him. That doesn't mean she has to get her bitch ass face in mine all the time."

"Lu-chan, it's going to be fine. Lisanna's dealt with jealousy before. You probably won't be any different." At Lucy's disbelieving face, she changed tact. "If you want, you can ask Master for a tent of your own."

"I'll do that. Natsu snores and it's getting annoying." Lucy wheeled herself towards the entrance of the tent. "You coming?"

* * *

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that," Makarov said apologetically to the two girls.

"What?!" Lucy yelled. "What do you mean you can't do that?"

"I mean, we ran out of spare tents yesterday. It went to one of the outer camps who were attacked by Oración Seis."

Lucy groaned. "I'll bunk with my girls. I'll bunk with Levy. Heck, I'll even bunk with Gray. Just not Natsu."

"What's wrong with Natsu?" Makarov frowned. "Has he done anything?"

"No, but it's not Natsu, it's Lisanna. Jealousy issues."

"Ah. Well, give her some time. She got over it when Wendy got a little clingy."

"Seriously? _Wendy?_ Isn't she a little young for him?"

"He's practically her hero in her eyes. Now he's downgraded to an older brother but that's not the point. Lisanna will get over it."

"She better," Lucy muttered. "I can't stand that slut anymore."

"I will decide to ignore that since you are our guests but one more word like that about my children and I will personally have you kicked out." Makarov's voice was serious but there was a friendly twinkle in his eye.

"Sure, sure. Just tell her to stay away. Natsu can be her man for all I care. I don't need one."

"Seems pretty lonely to me," Levy said.

Lucy gave her a look. "I used to think that way, but now, I think it's better if I'm alone."

"Why?"

At this, the girl hesitated. "Need not to know," was all she said.

Levy and Makarov raised their eyebrows. What had happened?

* * *

**I really have to extend my chapters... I'll try harder in my next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

A full month later, Lucy was finally out of the wheelchair, although she still had to take it easy. Wendy watched as Lucy carefully stretched. "You are doing much better. Give it one more week and you'll be completely healed."

"Thanks Wendy," Lucy said as she slipped on a loose shirt. "Anything I shouldn't do over the week?"

"No border fights, no heavy lifting, and no running. I guess you can do some weapons practice, but take lots of breaks in between."

"Sure. Anything the doc says." She wrapped her belt around her waist and coiled her whip onto it. The rest of her weapons, save for her knife and her shotgun, were left in Natsu's tent. "Can I go for border patrol today? I'm tired of staying in the camp."

Wendy chewed her lip. "Well… alright. But take it easy. Go by the Sabertooth border. They haven't been stirring up trouble for a while so it should be ok."

Lucy shrugged and ducked out of the tent. Gildarts was assigning patrols for the day and as Lucy joined the line, she saw that she was getting sidelong looks from the others, but studiously ignored them.

Gildarts grinned as Lucy came up. "Yo! It's nice to see you out of that chair."

"I just need some exercise," she replied. "Wendy told me to go by Sabertooth border."

He glanced down at his clipboard. "You can join Alzack, Bisca, and Freed for border patrol." The mentioned people smiled and nodded at Lucy, who nodded back. "Take care alright?"

"Sure." She strolled over to the others and stood a little ways from them, but not far enough to draw notice.

"Ok you lazy punks!" Gildarts yelled after everyone was given their assignments. "Get going!"

"Hai!" Fairy Tail called out and dispersed onto the many trucks and roared away.

"Let's go, shall we?" Alzack motioned to a rusty red truck and climbed into the back, helping up Bisca and Lucy. Freed took charge of the steering wheel.

For the first ten minutes, the three of them rode in silence until Bisca tentatively said to Lucy, "So… how are you liking Fairy Tail so far?"

"It's fine. Except for Lisanna, who keeps snapping at me, and Natsu. Does he always act like a lost puppy whenever someone isn't around?"

The couple before her laughed. "No, only you and Lisanna when she was missing for several years. She was kidnapped by Grimoire Heart until Fairy Tail rescued her. Everyone thought she and Natsu would hook up, the way he fussed over her, but he stopped several months ago before he met you. How he's acting now is just like how he was acting with Lisanna a while ago," Bisca told her.

Lucy groaned. "It gets on my nerves."

"Actually, he seems to be more attentive to Lucy than Lisanna when she came back," Alzack said thoughtfully. "Lisanna probably noticed and is simply jealous."

"She's probably scared she has competition," Bisca agreed.

"Look. I know what everyone is thinking whenever they see me and Natsu together but honestly, I don't want a partner that way. Lisanna can have Natsu," Lucy said, exasperated.

The couple raised their eyebrows. "You really don't?" Bisca asked, astonished.

"No," Lucy said with finality. With a smile, she deftly changed the conversation by asking, "So when is your child due, Bisca?"

Bisca blushed. "The signs have just been showing. I won't give birth until nine months later. How did you find out?"

Lucy shrugged. "Everyone knows by now. Word gets around pretty quick, you know. Especially if its about people's love lives."

Alzack grinned, blushing. "We're hoping for a little girl, you know. We decided to name her Asuka."

The couple smiled at one another, so obviously in love and so happy with each other that Lucy felt a sudden pang of jealousy. She exhaled angrily through her nose and looked away until the truck stopped at the end of the Sabertooth border where it met Heartfilia Territory.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, swinging herself down.

Freed pointed at several dark columns of smoke in Heartfilia Territory. Lucy's eyes narrowed, tears springing up as her fists clenched so hard her nails drew blood from her palms as she clenched her jaw.

Bisca, who stood next to her, placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, but Lucy shrugged it off, whirling around and throwing herself behind the wheel of the truck. The others just barely managed to haul themselves onto the bed of the truck before the tires whirled furiously, throwing up dust, and shot back into Magnolia Territory.

* * *

**Sorry for the wait! I encountered a slight writer's block so I made other fanfictions until I got over it. Review if you like this chapter please! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"We have to go back. Now," Lucy snapped, bursting into Makarov's tent.

The old man started with surprise before looking up at her with astonishment. "What happened?"

"We saw fires out on Heartfilia Territory. Who knows _what_ Phantom Lord is doing in my territory." Seeing Makarov lapse into a thoughtful silence, Lucy's voice rose to a desperate cry. "Please. You _have_ to let me go back there. I need to know what they're doing—"

"Quiet." His voice added no emphasis and he said it softly, but Lucy immediately held her tongue, albeit with difficulty. There was silence for a minute before Makarov breathed a sigh. "I know you're upset, but we still need to be cautious. I agree with you though; we do need to know what's going on."

"So let's go!"

"Not without backup. I'm sending in Natsu, Gray, and Erza with your from Fairy Tail. It's up to you who from your guild comes as well."

Lucy set her jaw. "I'm used to doing things by myself."

"You go by yourself, you might get yourself killed! Be sensible!"

She glared at the ground, scared about what was happening to the people in her territory and furious that she had no power over what was going on. "Fuck," she muttered. She stood and whirled around, striding out of the tent.

Natsu met her outside. "What happened?" his eyes were darker with worry. "Freed told all of us what happened, but Gildarts and Erza kept us from eavesdropping."

"Then you should know why I'm so pissed, shithead."

He shrugged, unfazed by her rudeness. "So what did Gramps decide to do?"

She shrugged. "Oi, what does it take to get some food around here? I'm starving."

* * *

In the end, Lucy didn't get to eat at all. Makarov had filled in Natsu, Gray, and Erza on the mission and Lucy had chosen Libra and Capricorn to go with her. Loke had been slightly dejected that he wasn't chosen, but as second in command, he had to take charge of the rest of the guild when Lucy wasn't around.

The six of them rode on a pickup truck in the dead of night wearing dark clothes. Lucy, Natsu, and Erza had to wear black caps to hide their distinctive hair. They were all quiet, not daring to make any noise as the truck, driven by Laxus, dropped them off a kilometer away from the Heartfilia border.

"Good luck," Laxus grunted before they set off.

"We'll get back in one piece," Gray promised.

Lucy, Libra, and Capricorn were silent, staring over their territory. It had been so long since they were here and now, they were going home, even if it was only for a few short hours.

"It's not anything to look at, but its home," Libra said in her quiet voice. Lucy and Capricorn nodded, their faces illuminated in the harsh light of the moon.

Natsu watched them, his gaze lingering especially on Lucy. How is it, he wondered, that she caught his attention so quickly, so immediately, as soon as he first saw her lying in the dust just several miles from this very spot?

She turned to the rest of the group and he went over to her side, feeling inexplicably drawn to her gaze. "What's the plan?"

Lucy beckoned to the others before she started. "We're going to split into two groups, one for the left side and one for the right. I'll take the left side with Natsu and Libra. Capricorn will lead the other group with Erza and Gray. Try not to get shot and do _not_ get captured. Are we clear?"

"Aye!"

They began their trek across the dark moonlit land, careful to try to step lightly so that they wouldn't leave obvious tracks. Natsu stayed by Lucy's side, peering around him looking for hostiles.

It took them two hours, but they finally saw tiny pinpricks of glowing light that signified that they have reached the Celestial Zodiacs' camp.

Lucy looked over their previous camp. It had grown in size to accommodate Phantom Lord's size and there were twice the number of tents. A bonfire flickered in the middle of the camp, throwing eerie shadows across the ground.

Natsu, Lucy, and the rest crept closer until they reached the first of the tents where they separated into their two groups.

As Lucy slipped through her camp, she noticed that none of the original tents were left, only the black tents emblazoned with the purple Phantom Lord crest. She glowered at them and contemplated slicing up the tents into unrecognizable scraps, but decided against it, as it would give their position away.

They crept towards the bonfire, taking care not to kick up dust or upset stones. Several times Lucy had to snap at Natsu for not being stealthy enough, but she mostly ignored him, too focused on her task.

Voice alerted them to the center of the camp and they crept to the shadows of a large three-person tent to hide their faces from the glow of the fire where all the members of Phantom Lord were gathered. The only one standing was Jose Porla, the leader of Phantom Lord.

Oh, how Lucy wanted to take her beautiful shotgun and blow his brains out of that thick skull.

Instead, she yanked a knitted black skull cap over her bright hair and did the same to Natsu, then hunkered down and listened.

"As of today, we have successfully taken over Heartfilia Territory. We may have had trouble because of revolts among their people, but sacrifices are necessary, although the loss of life is a waste."

Lucy's eyes narrowed. What did that motherfucker mean by "sacrifices"?

"The Celestial Zodiacs have misused their well. It is time for Phantom Lord to bring this Territory to the glory it will be. The revolts today were unfortunate: those people today didn't understand that we are _helping_ them better than the Celestial Zodiacs did! We had to put them in their place and now they are dead."

Natsu grabbed Lucy and hauled her away before she did something she regretted. Libra signaled to Erza and the rest, who were slightly visible on the other side of the fire, and took Lucy's kicking legs. They carried her out of the camp twenty feet away when they were rejoined by Gray, Capricorn, and Erza.

"Lucy! You have to be quiet. I hate what they did too but we can't risk being discovered!" Capricorn hissed.

Lucy yelled at him, her voice muffled by Natsu's large hand. Two tears trickled out of her eyes.

"Knock her out," Libra said grimly. "When she's like this, the best thing we can do is knock her out, tie her up, and leave her alone for a week or two until she calms down."

Lucy shouted furiously as Capricorn suddenly brandished a syringe and plunged it into Lucy's neck. She gasped and slumped in Natsu's arms. He picked her up and arranged her so that she rested more comfortably.

"How come you have one?" Gray asked.

"We all have an anesthetic, sedative, tranquilizer, and adrenaline shot for medical uses, but Lucy uses it more than anyone else," Libra explained. She turned to Lucy and her eyes softened. "She's been using it a lot ever since…"

Capricorn shushed her. "Don't say it."

"Don't say what?" Erza asked.

The two Celestial Zodiacs looked uncomfortable. "We don't talk about it," Capricorn said finally. "Now come on, Lucy will be awake in a few hours and I don't want to be there when she does."

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait! I was busy! Waah, I'm really sorry! Don't hate me and review please **


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

When Lucy woke, Loke was with her as she lay tied to her bed in Natsu's tent. She glared at him with betrayed eyes and thrashed, her gag preventing her from speaking, although muffled yells tore from her throat.

"I'm sorry," Loke whispered. "But you need to calm down. Believe me, I want to destroy Jose as much as you do, but we need to wait."

The yells suspiciously sounded like a string of curse words, but Loke kept his cool. "Look, we're both mad, but yelling won't do anything so will you quit?"

Lucy stayed quiet for a full five minutes before Loke finally took the gag from her mouth. "I'm still pissed!" she exclaimed.

"We all are." Loke carefully brought the rim of her canteen to her lips and she drank the lukewarm water.

"Where's Natsu?" she asked.

"I don't know. We went back here and I told him I'll stay with you until you wake up. Then he got on a truck with Scorpio and the Twins and went off. He seems to understand you're pretty distraught, Princess."

Lucy grumbled to herself for a minute before calming down. "Can you get these off me? I'm not going to go anywhere. I'm tired."

Loke untied her and she stood. "Now get out of here so I can change."

"Aw, don't you want me to help? I'll be gentle~"

"I'm telling Aries."

"Ok! I won't! I'm sorry!"

"Just go already."

"Got it."

Lucy sighed and shook her head as the flap fluttered shut after her second-in-command left and stripped off her shirt and pants, leaving her in her soiled undergarments, which she too off as well and leaned forward to dig a fresh shirt and shorts from her bag when—

"Hey, Luce! I got something fo— Whoa…"

Lucy screamed. "OUT! GET OUT, NATSU!" She grabbed her gun and sprayed bullets at him, peppering holes in the tent as he dodged and ran, screaming something about her breasts as all the males and females of the camp started an uproar.

* * *

When Lucy finally pulled on her undergarments, a faded pink shirt of Erza's, and tan short shorts from Mira with her belt with her knife and whip and usual combat boots, and fought down her embarrassment, she pushed open the flap of the tent— which now looked like Swiss cheese as well as most of the right wall— to find Natsu kowtowing on the ground with a furious Erza standing behind him, one boot placed between his shoulder blades with most if not all of Fairy Tail and the Celestial Zodiacs standing in a semicircle around the tent. Scorpio and the Twins stood a little behind Erza and Natsu, standing in a tight group.

"Lucy, I'm very very very sorry I saw you naked," Natsu said, a tremor of fear in his voice.

Lucy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's alright. I'm sorry for your tent. I'll fix it tonight."

Erza let Natsu up and the two shook hands. Behind him, Lucy saw that Lisanna looked livid.

"W-Well, I wanted to tell you that I got you something," Natsu said a little bashfully. Scorpio walked forward with the Twins behind him, no doubt hiding something.

"What is it?" she asked, genuinely curious.

The Twins came out from behind Scorpio and with them was a crate littered with little holes, much like what Natsu's tent looked like right now. A snuffling and whining and scratching came from the crate and Gemi unlatched the door and a white blur shot out of it and bounded on her, slobbering spit and barking.

A white dog with a strange orange nose and dark eyes.

It was still young and trusting, but on its way to adulthood and Lucy fell in love with it immediately.

"Aw, he's so cute," Lucy squealed. "Well, I think he's a boy."

Natsu nodded. "You were pretty messed up over what happened to your territory and he was on sale at the market so I decided to buy him for you. I got him from the same guy that sold me Happy." He grinned. "His name's Plue."

Plue barked happily at the sound of his name and slobbered spit all over Lucy's face once again.

She laughed and sat up, ruffling his fur. "He's beautiful." She smiled at Natsu. "Thanks."

He grinned back at her. "No problem."

Happy sauntered out from behind the tent and saw Plue. The dog bounded over to the cat and for some reason, they seemed to bond together immediately. Natsu and Lucy laughed, seeing their pets play together.

Behind them, only one person wasn't smiling that day. And she was glaring right at Lucy.

* * *

**This is another filler, but I wanted Plue to be in this story and what better way to deepen the conflict between Lucy and Lisanna but to have Natsu get Lucy such a sweet gift? Review if you enjoy and I'm sorry for the long wait :'3**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Plue became so attached to Lucy that he followed her everywhere, whether it was in her bath, or when she was on patrol with Fairy Tail (she taught him how to be silent on patrols and to growl when there was an unfamiliar scent), to resting by her feet when she ate, gnawing on scraps that Mira gave him.

As such, Plue was lying with his head on his paws knowing on a ball in a patch of sunlight in Levy's tent as the two girls lounged on the camp bed and bag lawn chair that Levy bought for herself several months ago the last time the traders came.

Lucy was sitting on the camp bed, gazing out the open flaps of the tent as she talked to Levy, who was arranging her books. The two girls have become fast friends through their love of books and spent many afternoons together whenever they could.

Outside, a rough voice spoke up and Lucy saw Levy turn around and peer outside as Gajeel strode past with a wheelbarrow of metal scraps, no doubt taking it to his workshop where he made all kinds of things from arrowheads to swords to jewelry. Makarov usually traded for supplies with Gajeel's handcrafted tools, which the traders accepted with greed and excitement as Gajeel's skills were unparalleled for a great many miles around.

When Gajeel passed, Lucy noticed that Levy's expression dimmed and she looked dejected as she returned to her task of organizing her extensive collection of tattered books, the pages dry from the heat.

"You like him," Lucy said, grinning widely as she wrestled Plue for the ball, which he refused to relinquish.

Levy blushed crimson. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Suuuure," Lucy drawled and gave up on retrieving the ball from Plue and sat back, legs crossed as she unsheathed her knife and began throwing it up into the air and casually catching it by the hilt. "I heard that a lot."

"Lu-chan! There really isn't anything between us!" Levy wailed, her face bright red as she waved her arms in a cutely agitated fashion.

"Levy-chan, I've seen the way you look at him. Now stop denying and just ask him out!" Lucy barked, this time catching her knife by the blade and hurling at the ground where it struck, hilt-up, quivering, as if to prove her point. Plue whined again and stood and trotted to the other side of the tent.

There was a very pregnant pause then Levy sighed and sank onto her chair, brushing aside several papers and a writing pen onto the floor and leaning back. "I didn't like Gajeel at first, but I started to after Grimoire Heart attempted to raid our territory and he protected me from two of their warriors who attacked me at the same time. He said I was tiny, so it was harder for him to find me so I shouldn't leave his side." Levy blushed as she spoke. "After we defeated Grimoire Heart, he almost acted as if none of what happened ever existed, but he did offer to carry my books once when I was lending some to Freed. I don't know if he likes me or not, but ever since he saved me, I started to like him more and more." Levy buried her head in her hands. "What do I do, Lu-chan? I want to ask him out but I'm not sure if he likes me back and even if I did ask him out, where would we go?"

Lucy was silent for a moment until she stood. "Wait here." She picked up her knife and strode out of Levy's packed tent, Plue picking up his ball and trotting after her.

* * *

The sound of ringing reached Lucy's ears as she and Plue strode towards a lone gray tent a little ways from the rest. Gajeel lived here so that he could work in peace and also not disturb the rest of the camp or endanger it from the sparks from his forge. Laki lived the closest to him because of her carpenter's station, but still closer to the main camp than his tent.

At the moment, the large man was working under a large pavilion made up of poles hammered into the ground with a tent cloth stretched over it. The forge was outside of the pavilion, but not so far as to be too far from the anvil and his tools. In another side of the pavilion by a corner, his carving desk filled with his latest work and shavings and tools was situated in a corner that was placed so that he was in the shade most of the day. In the other corner was a large table covered with a faded cloth where he put his finished work. His canteen was hung on a hook on one of the poles along with a stained towel.

Gajeel was welding something at the moment and Lucy waited until he was done until she bellowed, "Gajeel!"

"What, Bunny Girl?!" he roared back at her. He called her that because he said that she reminded him of a bunny he saw once in the market, feisty and bad-tempered sometimes, but sweet and fluffy and cute other times.

She strode up to him and looked at him with a searching gaze. He met hers evenly, about to ask her what she was doing here until she opened her mouth and practically yelled, "Do you like Levy?"

He staggered back, hands clamped over his ringing ears. "Where the fuck did that come from?" he yelled  
back. "And that hurt!"

She crossed her arms. "You do, don't you?"

He tried to glare right back, but couldn't hold his gaze and dropped his eyes. "Maybe…"

Lucy groaned with frustration. "Well, if you do, why don't you tell her?"

"Cause the Shrimp might hate me if I do," he said, throwing his hands up in the air with exasperation.

She contemplated for a while, then grabbed a poker and hit him over the head, but it barely seemed to hurt him. "Ok, that didn't work. Honestly, here's what I have to say: you are a coward, Levy-chan's a pessimistic person, and the two of you should go out," she said bluntly.

Gajeel stared at her. "Where should I take her?" He finally asked.

Lucy shrugged. "The market, maybe. Natsu tells me they import some really good books weekly so you might let Levy take a look at that."

Gajeel nodded thoughtfully. "That might work, Bunny Girl. I've got some stuff Makarov wants me to ship there. I can take the Shrimp along."

"No, don't bring her on one of your business trips. Dates are supposed to be fun," she reprimanded. "Now ask her!" she exclaimed, pushing him towards the camp.

He paled under his tan. "Now?!"

Lucy frowned at him. "Why not?"

Gajeel mumbled something about needing to mend Freed's bent rapier and Lucy slapped him over the head. "Stop being a sissy! Now ask her out like a man!"

With much grumbling and complaining, Lucy shoved Gajeel towards the camp, Plue scampering after them with his white coat dusted sandy brown from the dust covering the ground.

* * *

Levy sat anxiously in her tent after Lucy disappeared, wondering what the impulsive and blunt leader of the Celestial Zodiacs was up to.

"I hope she didn't go talk to Gajeel!" she wailed into thin air. But there was always the highly probable chance that she did.

There was a familiar whining sound and Plue turned the corner to stand before Levy's tent, barking at her.

"What is it, boy?" she asked, coming out. As soon as she did, she froze.

Gajeel was standing there with Lucy a few feet behind him and a large crowd watching with grinning faces. The tall blacksmith was still in his scarred leather apron and brown bandanna that Levy gave him a few months ago for his birthday and he was nervously shifting from one foot to another, sweating profusely as his wandering hand went from behind his back to clenching at his sides to one of them touching his hair.

When nothing happened, Lucy darted up and planted a kick on his backside, hissing, "Say it!" and retreating again.

He looked even more uncomfortable than before and muttered out, "Shrimp, go out with me."

"And?" Lucy hissed again.

Gajeel threw her an irritated look and turned back around, blushing even more and muttered in an even lower tone, "I like you."

Levy stared at him, dumbfounded, before asking, "Did Lu-chan make you say this?"

"Kinda, but Shrimp, I really do like you," he said honestly and this time, there was no fear in his words. "Go out with me tomorrow."

She stood in stunned silence for a few more heartbeats before blushing and shyly saying, "I'll love to."

The Fairy Tail members and several Zodiac members cheered as the two embraced.

"Wow, Lucy, you're even better than Mira at matchmaking," Cana said, elbowing the girl. "She's been trying to get them together for months, but you did it in one day."

Lucy shrugged. "I'm not that good of a matchmaker. I just had to be blunt." She turned as Lyon of Lamia Scale approached her.

"Can you get Juvia to fall for me?" he asked and Lucy stared at him before shaking her head.

"You lost before you even started," she replied. "She's too deeply into Gray to even give you a second glance."

A few more people asked her to get them and their loved ones together, but she waved them off and whistled for Plue before striding away.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait! I lost my inspiration for a while and I wasn't feeling up to writing so I had a little setback. Please review and seriously, review cause people aren't reviewing anymore and it's making me heartbroken :'(**


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